More than dressing up: Cosplayers create costumes based on video games, movies, comic books and more

Published: Friday, January 17, 2014 at 2:51 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, January 17, 2014 at 2:51 p.m.

Cosplay — a portmanteau of "costume" and "play" — may have entered American consciousness in 1986 thanks to a now-legendary "Saturday Night Live" spoof of "Star Trek" conventions. In that skit, William Shatner, Capt. Kirk himself, admonished geeky Federation-clad fanboys to "get a life!"

Facts

SwampCon Rising

Facts

Where'd it all start?

Some cosplay histories contend costume play started in Japan and later was adopted by Americans and the rest of the world.But author and playwright John Flynn, in a 1986 essay for Starlog magazine titled “Costume Fandom: All Dressed Up with Some Place to Go!,” wrote that the first costumed players were Forrest J. Ackerman and Myrtle R. Jones, who showed up in costume at the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939.“The future editor of 'Famous Monsters of Filmland' was dressed as a rugged-looking star pilot, and his female companion was adorned in a gown recreated from the classic 1933 film 'Things to Come,' ” he wrote. “Both of them created quite a stir among the somber gathering of writers, artists and (fans), and injected a fanciful, imaginary quality into the convention's overly serious nature.”The following year, more than a dozen WorldCon attendees arrived in sci-fi costumes, he added.Why? Flynn explained: “Whether it is for a convention or party, a contest or festival, costuming allows the wearer to step out of his/her everyday existence, to become someone else, and to live out a fantasy.”Japanese writer Nobuyuki Takahashi coined the term “cosplay” to describe the costumed players he encountered at the 1984 WorldCon. The same year, the comedy “Revenge of the Nerds” made geekiness cool.And while Americans until then had limited costume play to science-fiction characters or historical re-creation such as the Society for Creative Anachronism's medieval ideals, Japanese fans recreated their beloved manga figures. Manga is Japanese cartooning; anime is animation based on manga.In the mid-1990s, U.S. con-goers followed suit, expanding genres to horror, fantasy, video gaming and such, bringing us to the point where we are today.— Rick AllenStaff writer

But they not only didn't heed him, fans instead made costumed role playing their life — resulting in a pop subculture that today goes boldly where, arguably, no other fan base has gone before. So rather than snark, perhaps the SNL sketch was actually early acknowledgement of an about-to-boom pop phenomenon.

Nowadays, on any given weekend in cities the size of New York, Los Angeles, Seattle or Atlanta to others smaller than our own, some fan convention — a "con" — is under way; typically half or more of those attending are attired as a character from a video game, comic book, cartoon, anime, movie or TV series.

And the number of cons "has grown every year," Ryan Kopf, CEO of Upcomingcons.com, wrote in an email. The website lists fan conventions in all genres with 100 or more attendees. More than 1,000 are listed; L.A. alone hosts a dozen fan conventions every year.

Often, the highlight of most cons is the cosplayers. They're definitely the most colorful.

"It's a costume party," said Merald Clark of Gainesville. "You want to be noticed. And the number of pictures people take of you is like getting 'likes' on Facebook."

"You can get away for a few days, surround yourself with people who have similar interests and who aren't judging you," agreed Ocala cosplayer Russell Chang. "You're a kid again."

Gainesville cosplayer Crystal Sorrow has been attending cons since 2005.

"I think the best part about going to cons is the feeling that there are people like me, and we're all having a good time," she said.

Added her friend Erin McConnell: "It's a way to leave your daily life and enter a fantasy situation."

And for the duration of the con — one day or a weekend — they're family, safe within the like-minded.

"It's like stepping into Neverland," said Ocala's Megan Scott of her 15 years as a cosplaying con attendee. "You're surrounded by people who think like you, who don't mind doing weird and crazy things just to be weird and crazy."

In 2010, Tufts University student Daniel Casey examined the subculture in a history paper titled "Identity Crisis: Cosplay as Cultural Hybridization."

"The average cosplayer," he wrote, "is not merely putting on a costume; the experience is one of metamorphosis, a transformation of identity."

There's really no way to determine just how many cosplayers there are; anyone in costume, from the simplest attempt to the most-intricate complete with props, is welcomed. So it's likely the "metamorphosis" happens millions of times every year, coast to coast.

In the past few weeks, cosplayers in Gainesville and Ocala have been focused on finishing outfits to unveil at SwampCon Rising this weekend at the University of Florida. It runs today until midnight and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday in the Reitz Student Union. A cosplay contest is 5 p.m. Sunday.

Organizer Karen Pearce said as many as 8,000 are expected to show up for the con; of course, it helps that the whole shebang is free.

Ocala's second Comic Con is set for June 28; its organizers announced this week that Esme Bianco of HBO's "Game of Thrones" will be a featured guest.

"The first year SwampCon was just one day," Pearce said. "Last year we about tripled our attendance with 6,000. Hopefully, it'll keep growing."

Cosplay is a significant part of this and most cons, she added.

"There's a sense of community being at a con in costume," she said.

She'll be at SwampCon one day as Coraline and the other as Wonder Woman.

Scott fell in love with cons at her first in Toronto at age 16, and has gone to every one she could since. While she has "a jillion" costumes, she said her main focus now is designing and helping others make outfits, and then photographing the finished product. She's even set up a photo studio in her home.

"That way, they go home with not only a costume but the whole package," she said.

McConnell converted her garage into a workshop, and often hosts work parties before upcoming cons. She just finished a head piece associated with the character Pyramid Head from the Silent Hill video game to wear this weekend. But some days are spent scouring the area for the right kind of foam or wig or other needed doo-dad; there are no Cosplay R Us stores here — or anywhere.

Every new outfit is a learning experience.

"You have to be more than just a costumer," said Danica Rockwood, another Gainesville cosplayer. "You have to be a sculptor, you have to be a special-effects artist, hair designer, makeup artist …"

"And you have to be able to recover if part of it falls off," Sorrow interrupted.

Many cosplayers find their way into the avocation through video gaming like Rockwood or wandering into a con somewhere, like McConnell.

"I've always had a love for video games, graphic novels and comic books," McConnell said. "I attended Dragon Con (in Atlanta) four years ago, and that pretty much set the stage for me."

Same for Clark, who describes himself as a "semi-serious" player. He went to Atlanta's Dragon Con in 2009 — and decided garbed was the only way to go. Once he dressed as Col. Hammond, a morph between John Hammond from "Jurassic Park" and KFC's Col. Sanders; another time as Harcourt Fenton Mudd from the original "Star Trek" series.

"It felt like being young again," he said.

Ocala teen Ryo Gugel made his first outfit — Sora from the Kingdom Hearts video game — in one night for his first con two years ago.

"It was the best experience of my life," he said.

"You're part of a beautiful community," he added. "You have family that spreads around the world."

Contact Rick Allen at rick.allen@starbanner.com or 867-4154.

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